TRI # 1

Well, I did it. I completed my first triathlon. I've been wanting to do one for a while. After swimming year-round for 5 years I knew after high-school I wanted to do something different. In triathlons I can still swim without it being 5 or so hours devoted solely to swimming, like swim meets.

After getting back from camp at the end of August I started looking for triathlons close by. I saw there was going to be one on September 22 in Huntersville (just 20 minutes from me). It was The Ramblin' Rose - an all female mini beginners triathlon. It was 250 yards of swimming, 9 miles of cycling, and a 2 mile run.

I was pretty confident I could be ready to do such a small triathlon in 3 weeks. I knew I could do each of those components on their own. The challenge would be doing them back to back and going as hard as I could at each one.

During the three weeks before the race I somewhat failed at training. Because it was such a mini triathlon I kind of shrugged off training. I swam for about an hour three days a week and I went biking a few times. I did a 9 mile bike and 2 mile run back to back twice before the actual race. I drove the bike course once as well. But that was about it.

I'm such a newbie at triathlons though. I wasn't even sure what to wear. Thanks to a friend that has done an Iron Man, I decided on wearing tri shorts and a tri top. It was perfect. That way I didn't have to put on or take anything off throughout the race.

I showed up early on race day and set up my transition area. Everyone had to rate their swim ability on a scale of 1-10. 10 was the fastest. I was in the 10 group and was able to be one of the very first people to start the triathlon. Having a good swim time definitely helped. That way I started out ahead of most people and didn't really get stuck behind anyone.

Even though I was one of the first people to start the swim, I still got stuck behind 2 or 3 women. I ended up passing them but it definitely slowed me down a little. The ten lap swim went by very fast and then I ran to my transition area to get ready for the bike. I put my sneakers on as fast as I could and started the next leg. The bike course was mostly flat so that definitely helped. I am not the best at cycling though. I don't do it often enough. I just bought a very nice bike for my birthday a week before the race. The race was my 5th time ever riding the bike. It was super nice though. Right after I finished the bike course I grabbed a sip of gatorade and started on the run. By this time I was tired. It was kind of difficult to run. I don't understand how people do an Iron Man.

My goal for the race was to do it under 1 hour. I really didn't know how long it was going to take me. I did it in 51 minutes so I was very happy! I ended up being 22nd out of 673 and 1st in my age group! Definitely will do another.